[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1292]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   AFGHANISTAN AND THE WAR ON TERROR

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I did not support the resolution 
authorizing the Iraq war, and I continue to believe it was a mistake, 
and that we should redeploy our armed forces out of Iraq as quickly as 
possible. Needless to say, I adamantly oppose the President's latest 
proposal to escalate the war, the so-called ``surge.''
  Now, part of my concern over the Iraq war is that it continues to 
distract U.S. policy, both foreign and domestic, from more important 
concerns. The threat of international terrorism is real, and it came 
home to us vividly after 9/11, but the focal point of our war against 
terrorism should be Afghanistan, not Iraq.
  While our soldiers continue to die in Baghdad and we spend hundreds 
of billions of dollars in Iraq, we are neglecting the situation in 
Afghanistan and its environs, particularly Pakistan, where bin Laden, 
al Qaeda and the Taliban grow stronger every day.
  Mr. Speaker, last Saturday the New York Times did a front page story 
on the NATO struggle in Afghanistan, which stressed how the Taliban 
were coming back. The likelihood is there will be a new spring 
offensive by the Taliban as early as February, next month. The article 
went on to say that corrupt and ineffective leadership have turned 
people against the central government and its U.S. allies, and that 
U.S. reconstruction efforts are a failure.
  Mr. Speaker, if there is any place where the United States should be 
stepping up its efforts, both in terms of resources and manpower, and 
where we would have international support, again, in terms of other 
countries' troops as well as other countries' resources and money, it 
would certainly be Afghanistan. The U.S. was directly attacked from 
there by bin Laden and al Qaeda operatives, and they were of course 
harbored by the Taliban.
  So you might ask, Mr. Speaker, why does President Bush get on 
national TV last week and stress the need for a surge in Baghdad and 
reconstruction dollars for Iraq, and not prioritize Afghanistan 
instead?
  In addition, President Bush continues to appease the military 
dictatorship in Pakistan, which effectively encourages and provides 
safe harbor in its frontier territories to the Taliban.
  President Bush talks about democracy in Iraq, but what about 
democracy in Pakistan, which is much more likely to achieve democracy 
if the U.S. did not prop up the Musharraf dictatorship.
  The media, Mr. Speaker, has reported many times that al Qaeda and the 
Taliban operate freely out of Pakistan where they maintain training 
camps and receive the support of Pakistan's ISI, the equivalent of the 
American CIA.
  Last fall, the Pakistan government entered into an agreement with the 
Taliban. In return for not conducting raids into Afghanistan, they were 
guaranteed effective control of certain frontier regions of Pakistan. 
However, the incursions by the Taliban into Afghanistan continue while 
the Musharraf government left the Taliban alone in these areas of 
Pakistan.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that the U.S. has the opportunity for nation-
building in Afghanistan that will continue to elude us in Iraq. 
Afghanistan's economy is increasingly dependent on drugs; in other 
words, the opium crop which has expanded while the normal economy 
falters. Afghanistan needs a major infusion of resources from the 
United States and its allies to prevent a Taliban resurgence.
  I simply ask, Mr. Speaker, as we debate President Bush's surge in 
Baghdad over the next few weeks, think about the alternative in 
Afghanistan. Let's not forget where the real U.S. and global threat of 
terrorism both started and continues this day.

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